- 17/03/2023
- Posted by: Valerie Vaz MP
- Category: News
I visited IKEA Birmingham in Wednesbury on Friday 17 March 2023 to meet Deputy Market Manager Viraj Desai and Deputy Store Sales Manager Marek Krol. IKEA and its national charity partner, Shelter, launched ‘Real Life Roomsets’ to raise awareness of the housing emergency in the UK. The campaign highlights the real living conditions of those who are forced into temporary accommodation.
This roomset in IKEA Wednesbury/Birmingham was ‘Claire’s story’. Homeless after escaping an abusive relationship, Claire and her three young children lived in a hostel that looked like this. The cupboards were broken, the wallpaper was peeling off and her one-year-old baby was crawling on a dirty floor. There were bloodstains on the mattress and the bathroom was in a poor state.
This campaign comes as part of a long-term partnership with Shelter, demanding for 90,000 social homes to be built a year by 2030 to help address the housing emergency.
Ikea are also branching out into helping small businesses with ideas for their businesses and in addition to the home rooms sets have set up room sets for businesses.
A link to IKEA’s work with Shelter can be found here: Everyone deserves a place to call home – IKEA